Ahh, good ol’ tutorials… If you’ve ever been in one before, you’re probably familiar with the very unique concept called a “participation grade.” You either love the concept, or you hate it. Either way, you know you have to accept it because it’s a key factor to your final letter grade in your course. Below I chat about 11 of the most common nuisances and people you’ll face during your SFU career as a student with participation-based tutorials.
1. The struggle when you have an 8:30AM or 9:30AM tutorial.
Because if participation marks weren’t already bad enough, now you’re pretty much forced to wake up early just to attend your tutorial. Or, of course, you lie in bed contemplating whether or not these participation marks are worth getting up.
2. That one student who talks just for the heck of participation marks.
You know exactly what this student is thinking: nothing. And that’s because you know they don’t care about getting the right answer to the question your teaching assistant asked, because all they care about is getting more participation marks.
3. When you want to participate, but have no new ideas to add, so you “build off of” what the previous speaker said.
“Yes, I totally agree with what Jimmy said, and building off of that…” *paraphrases what Jimmy said.*
4. That one classmate who shows up to the first tutorial, disappears for 11 weeks, and then returns on the very last day.
You don’t know this person, but you love them because they’re the reason why you’re above the bell curve.
5. That one student who has an opinion on everything.
Like a sixth sense, you know know exactly when this student will put his or her hand up, and you unconsciously roll your eyes. This student is usually the one to start tutorial arguments (see point 8).
6. Those two students who are friends, bounce ideas off of each other, and don’t let others in the class speak.
You never know when these two will stop talking because once they start, it’s almost like it never ends. You also wonder if they come to tutorial with some sort of participation strategy since they are always ready to talk.
7. When it’s the end of the semester and you realize that your participation mark will be crap, so you start to pay attention and contribute more.
It’s almost like you’re a brand new person: attentive, proactive, interested in what everyone has to say, and much more stressed. You’re probably hoping that your participation grade will somehow save you from a certain letter grade.
8. Tutorial arguments that started out as casual participation.
These are rare, although hilarious if you do have the chance to observe one. Usually, these arguments start out like so:
Student 1: “Elephants are a part of kingdom Animalia.”
Student 2: “Excuse me? No, elephants are a part of kingdom Protista.”
Student 1: “I’m sorry, but aren’t algae and invertebrates classified in kingdom Protista?”
Meanwhile, awkward silence in the classroom. Everyone is listening. On your left, you see Jimmy grab himself a snack from his backpack. It’s about to go down.
9. Awkward silent moments during which your teaching assistant reminds you that there is a participation grade.
Yet nobody answers. This could be due to a variety of reasons, such as:
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Everyone is tired and just wants to go home
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Nobody understands what the teaching assistant is asking
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Nobody actually read the readings, or
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Everyone is thinking the same thing, but no one is answering because they’re all scared of sounding dumb
10. When you think you have the right answer to a question, but you’re a bit shy and unsure, so you contemplate answering for a minute, and as soon as you get the courage to put your hand up… someone else says exactly what you were going to say.
And you start thinking: “That could have been ME; I could have been the hero!” and continue to feel sad and vow to yourself that you will never let this happen again.
11. Loving the fact that there is a participation grade because you talk a lot.
HELLO EVERYONE! I am in my element. Hear me roar (through my participation)!
Do you relate to any of these situations or agree with all of the points? If so, share this article with your friends, and comment your own struggles below!